Rail Forums

Yes, but in all cases, it will cost you more than just walking to Waterloo.

If you're just using it to walk through I would have thought (although I'm not 100% sure, someone with more knowledge of how the Oyster computer systems work will be able to confirm) it will charge you a Zone 1 Tube + NR fare - Southwark to Waterloo East - as if you took the tube to Charing X and got a train from there.

If using Oyster to continue your journey from Waterloo, I'm not sure what the situation would be

I think if you are just walking through it will charge you 40p. If you continue your journey from Waterloo, I think that 40p will be used towards your fare. If you have a Travelcard covering zone 1 on your Oyster, it is free.

Don't forget you will touch out of Southwark and then touch back in at Waterloo East (there are 2 gatelines literally 5 metres apart, one LUL-manned, one SE-manned)... but I don't know if the readers at the other end will touch back out if you touch them after walking through the station? If so it should charge you nothing if you spend longer than 5 minutes in each station IIRC!

Yes, but in all cases, it will cost you more than just walking to Waterloo.

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I don't agree. My experience is that it is charged at £0.00 if (and only if) it is done at a time which links to another journey on that card as an Out of Station Interchange (OSI) at either Southwark or Waterloo East (or both).

Note 1 - You have not been charged for this journey as it is viewed as a continuation of your previous journey
Note 2 - The fare for this journey was capped as you reached the daily charging limit for the zones used

I don't agree. My experience is that it is charged at £0.00 if (and only if) it is done at a time which links to another journey on that card as an Out of Station Interchange (OSI) at either Southwark or Waterloo East (or both).

I recently did this and my journey history for that day is:
For all you ever wanted to know about Oyster, see MikeWh's excellent site at oyster-rail.org.uk.

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Ah yes, that makes sense now - thanks for clarifying this John (I assume this would apply at Waterloo NR too? I assume they OP will have to touch out at Waterloo East's validator on the bridge? )

(And yes, oyster-rail.org.uk is a great resource for all things Oyster )

There is no charge for walking through Southwark to get to Waterloo East. I don't know whether there is a charge for walking through Waterloo East to get to Waterloo. I would suspect that there might be because it comes under the same station exit rules (which I must put on my site sometime soon). This states that if you leave a station between 2 and 30 minutes after entering you will be charged the cheapest single fare from that station at the time of touch in. In Waterloo East's case that is £1.50 or £2.00, and counts towards the cap for the day. Of course, Waterloo East to Waterloo is an OSI, so it might end up refunding you if you then make a journey.

This seems like a feature to try one day when I will end up capping anyway.--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Bear in mind that the concession at Southwark is to allow access to Waterloo East without going all the way round to the main entrance. You probably aren't saving anything if you walk through to Waterloo compared to walking round the street.

I received the following after complaining about being charged for walking from Southwark through Waterloo East to Waterloo:

Thank you for contacting us about being charged at Waterloo East station, even though you passed along the platform without travelling.

Passengers can indeed be legitimately charged if they touch in and out of the same station without travelling, as platforms are a compulsory ticket area. The charge is equivalent to the minimum fare possible from the station and works like a platform ticket. It also counts towards the daily price cap hence, on this occasion, why you were only charged 40p.

You can avoid a charge if you hold a season ticket on your Oyster card, which is valid for the zone you are in. It can also be refunded if you had intended to travel but were unable to do so eg: severe delays or cancellations, either through the relevant passenger charter or by contacting us within 28 days of the affected journey.

I did get charged £2 upon leaving Waterloo East having entered via Southwark - its interesting that you need a valid ticket to enter via WE via Southwark, but not from Waterloo mainline. Anyhow, that £2 was (I believe), used towards to the cost of my Northern line journey from Waterloo mainline.

I did get charged £2 upon leaving Waterloo East having entered via Southwark - its interesting that you need a valid ticket to enter via WE via Southwark, but not from Waterloo mainline. Anyhow, that £2 was (I believe), used towards to the cost of my Northern line journey from Waterloo mainline.

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It would be interesting if you could confirm what happened from your journey history or a statement.